Posted by
voice_of_reason on Friday, March 02, 2007 6:59:21 AM
Although I'm an
ABCB conservative, I am also a fan of Jon Stewart & Steven 'Colbeah'. In fact I Tivo both shows every night.
Why? Because they are funny - even to a conservative who disagrees with their world-view. But I am aware that their comedy is like the bait on a fishing hook.
It achieves two purposes:
First and foremost, it sells extra-primo-good advertizing. The 18-35 demographic is a prime segment, and is less concerned about intellectual consistency or historical accuracy than entertainment with a feel-good bias. And Lefty ideology may be broken, but it sure can FEEL GOOD! Warms the ol' cockles to hoot derisively (while basking in the camaraderie of fellow hooters) at anyone who can intellectually defend CEO salaries.
A distant SECONDARY motive is politics. This may sound incorrect to some conservatives who believe that the PRIME motive behind those Lefty comedy shows is politics. If they couldn't sell beer and chips to the target audience, they wouldn't exist.
No free-market conservative should begrudge the business success of these shows. After all, they know their audience, and they serve them well.
The sharp end of the comedy-laden hook is their ability to influence politics. And there is no doubt that Jon Stewart had an impact in the waning days of the Nov '06 campaign while broadcasting from battleground Ohio every night.
Conservativism lacks the 'feel-good' and provocative dynamic, but is anchored in reality. So, an action/drama show like '24' that has a conservative take can succeed. But a comedy .. not so easy to be irreverent.
Dennis Miller has had some success due to the fact that he takes an irreverent look at the PC culture which evolved from Lefty ideology. But that's a long way to go to get laughs!
Leftist satirists have an edge, because a large part of contemporary comedy comes from irreverence.
And, the essence of Leftist ideology is to BE irreverent. For example, Leftist comedians can always get an easy laugh when they poke fun at our Govt (especially a Rep administration) and otherwise lambaste American failings.
Conservatives have a respect for American principles - so, we cringe when someone pokes fun at our country, irrespective of which party may happen to be in charge.
Since we also reject the tongue-in-cheek irreverence that is fashionable in contemporary comedy, we come off as 'boring' and dated in this genre.
However, we are more consistent in our thoughts and actions. In the long run, that counts for a lot more than the sneering, America-bashing Leftists.
Note: my comments here are intended to encourage thoughful comments from others who have tried to understand the success of Leftists in the area of entertainment in general and comedy in particular.
I believe that the rise of info-tainment as a political force deserves more attention. Since comedy plays a significant part in this, our lack of focus in this area will cost us dearly in the future.